I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
– Lamentations 3:19-26
These words have come to be a great comfort to me this past two weeks. I can’t even remember when, but God placed this verse in my heart sometime at the beginning of last week, or maybe even before. I just remember one day I spent 80% of my time quoting the line “Your mercies are new every morning,” over and over in my head. I have found myself reading Lamentations 3:19-26 at least once a day, particularly if there is something I am struggling with. It reminds me that every morning I wake up is a new day to be with God. Its a new day to embrace His love, mercy, grace, control, etc. that He is stretching out towards me. I tend to be hard on myself and if I make a mistake I dwell on it for a long time. I replay the situation over in my head, cringing at the point where the mess up happened. But, these words have helped me leave yesterday’s crap in yesterday. I can’t dwell on my or others past mistakes; I need to offer myself and others what God offers us- a new day. There is something empowering about that for me. I honestly have never been able to let go of anything as easily as I have been the past couple of weeks. Knowing that yesterday was yesterday and that today is today really just makes me happy.
He has also been using these verses to teach me what truly trusting in Him means. If I trust that He is in control of a situation then I don’t need to dwell on it for hours. He is faithful everyday, in every situation- to provide, to comfort, to guide, to give strength, whatever it is I need. These verses really have helped me to remember that God is in control of every little situation. And it is so important for me to remember that these next 10.5 months: living in community, in a place you’ve never been, where you can’t communicate well with the people, when you’re doing ministry a significant amount of time, is hard. Issues spring up when you are least expecting it, and everyone has a different way of communicating. But, despite all of that God is in control and He will carry me through every day. I feel that there is even more that God will be teaching me through these verses but thats all for now!
